Child of Earth
By Lumendea
Chapter Thirty-Six: Dangerous Enterprise: Instincts
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.
…
A lot of thoughts ran through Rose's head as the ship's temperature began to drop and the lights flickered. She wondered if they had activated a self-destruct or set off explosives somewhere in the ship. Yet things were quiet, almost too quiet as she heard the thrum of the engine behind her and almost nothing else. No this was something else, she reassured herself though she wasn't sure how much that actually calmed her down.
"Rose!" the Doctor's voice suddenly called through the intercom. "Where are you?"
"Uh the engine and navigation engineering level," Rose answered with a hint of confusion. "What do you need Doctor? What's happening?"
The lights overhead flickered and Rose glanced up at them with a frown. The nearby charts were changing quickly and the room was beginning to get colder. A suspicion about what was happening was growing in her bones as a tiny little voice in the back of her head started to whisper. It was a familiar feeling from her life in the other world, but unwelcome and uncomfortable so she pushed it aside to focus on the Doctor.
"Rose listen to me. They are shutting down the life support systems. We have turned some of the auxiliary systems on, but there's interference. I can't get the heat to do more than intermediate blasts and the lights aren't getting enough power."
There was some fear in his voice. A tone of real frustration and worry that made Rose pause and look at the screens. Now understanding what it all meant, Rose tensed as she watched the temperature mark dropping.
"Doctor, what do you have control of?"
"Oxygen and gravity have been switched to auxiliary, but they're manually controlling the shutdown according to docking procedures so that it doesn't trigger the auxiliary turning on. These are a suicide team so it doesn't matter if they die."
"Great," Rose groaned, trying to ignore the chill beginning to spread over her skin. "Just great." She took a slow breath to calm down. "Should I head to life support or auxiliary?"
"Go to auxiliary," the Doctor answered quickly. "We need to get things working there." A frustrated sigh came through the intercom. "This ship wasn't as ready for launch as they thought."
"This was supposed to be a calm trial run," Kate's voice reminded them both in the background, but Rose was already moving towards the door.
Following the maps on the wall, Rose kept running even as the lights overhead flickers and the temperature kept dropping. She shivered but did her best to ignore her knowledge that heat was seeping out of the ship faster than the damaged systems could keep up with. Part of her wanted to run back to the TARDIS. The question of why the Doctor was trying so hard was pounding in her skull. What was going to happen with this ship in the future? He hadn't confirmed it was a fixed point in time, but then again it could be a fixed point in their own timelines. If he remembered something that would happen on the ship then that might explain it.
Overhead the lights flickered again, but the power kept them from going out completely. Small backup lights along the edge of the corridor were now on and blinking softly so Rose could follow them. Her mind of racing. It was too quiet without the Doctor's voice or any sounds of other people. Rose headed down a staircase nervously, mindful of the dark and worried about the gravity failing. None the less she made it into the lower decks without injury.
The auxiliary control room was smaller and more compact than the main engineering level. There was a massive generator in the centre of the room, casting a soft blue glow throughout the space which was lucky as the lights kept flickering. Panels ran across one side of the room with several of them already dark. There was a row of controls with flashing screens and code running across them. She could see orders coming down from the bridge as they tried to get as much of the system working as possible. It only took her a moment to spot the intercom device and the button.
Pressing it, Rose called out, "Doctor I'm in auxiliary."
"How does it look?"
"Everything seems to be intact," Rose answered as she looked around again. "Nothing is torn open. They didn't get down here."
"We've still got them pinned down in life support," Kate's voice told her from the background. "So you should be safe down there."
"The generator behind me is working," Rose told him. "But a lot down here is switched off."
"Auxiliary activates when the other systems go down, but Eclipse meddled with the trigger systems," the Doctor explained. "You'll need to manually switch things on."
"What will you be doing?" Rose questioned as she turned her attention to the nearest set of panels.
"Keeping us out of the orbital plane and making sure that the systems connect as you turn things on," the Doctor answered with a hint of frustration in his voice.
"Why are you so worried?" Rose asked, glancing towards the intercom. "I mean we have the TARDIS."
"You need this ship," the Doctor answered in a tight voice. "Just…. Trust me on this Rose. We need to save the Enterprise and get it back to Earth."
That confirmed that something was going to happen with the ship later now. "Okay," she sighed. "Where do I start?"
"Far side of the room, you're looking for climate control," the Doctor informed her.
Nodding, Rose left the intercom and scanned the various panels. Small plaques above them labelled everything and at the far end she found a dark panel marked 'climate control.' Fancy name for thermostat a voice that sounded a lot like her mother pointed out. Pushing aside the voice, Rose scanned the panel. It was a large metal sheet with dark screens mixed with lots of buttons and levers. For a moment Rose was nervous, but she brought her hand up slowly and pressed a blue button that seemed to be calling to her.
Rose wasn't fully aware of what she doing. Her fingers were moving almost on their own over the wiring. In the back of her mind was a comforting hum of confidence and a barely audible ramble of technical terms that she only understood half of. The machines began to thrum beneath her fingertips. She moved down the row of panels, pressing buttons and watching as the small blank screens flared to life.
"Adjusting climate controls now Doctor," Rose announced, her voice quivering a tiny bit in her own surprise.
"Good girl," the Doctor called through the intercom. There was a jumble of noise of the other end and Rose heard him shout a bunch of technobabble at the others.
Her fingers kept pressing certain buttons and ignoring others as she moved down to the lighting and gravity panels. Rose was noticing a pattern in the controls now that she hadn't earlier. Some of the terms were making more sense and the soft whisper at the back of her mind was louder. A slight headache was building at the front of her head, but Rose ruthlessly ignored it. Over her head, the lights stopped flickering and she could feel the room getting warmer.
"Switching gravity control to auxiliary," the Doctor's voice called over the intercom. "Oh don't even try that," the Doctor muttered, "Won't work."
The statement was probably directed at the Eclipse agents in the main Life Support level, but it still made Rose smile. She shifted over to the main controls and scanned the readings. Gravity was holding at normal and the temperature was stabilising. It was still chilly, but no one would be freezing to death. Breathing out a sigh of relief, Rose looked carefully at the controls and smiled to herself as she mentally catalogued them.
"Rose you've got in darling," the Doctor's voice suddenly called and she blushed a bit at the very public endearment. "Come back up to the bridge."
"Are you sure?" Rose asked, looking nervously towards the door.
"Yes," the Doctor answered. "Please come back here."
There was a hint of worry in his voice and Rose nodded before she realised he couldn't see her. "Alright," she assured him. "On my way."
…...
The bridge doors opened and Rose let out a sigh of relief as her eyes landed on the TARDIS; it still standing near the 3D display with soft light pouring out of the top windows. Crewmembers were sitting down at their stations again and while the tensions was not completely gone it had definitely eased. Stepping inside, Rose offered a smile to Tosh who looked over at her with clear relief.
"You alright Rose?" Malcolm asked, standing up from his station.
"Tired, but no injuries," Rose promised him with a smile.
"Ah Darling," the Doctor's voice cheered from the back service corridor. He tripped into view a moment later with a beaming smile. There were wires around his neck that Rose wasn't sure were supposed to be there, but none the less he crossed over to her. "Alright?"
"I'm fine," Rose replied patiently with a soft smile. He took her hand, entangling their fingers and giving her a warm smile. Rose returned the smile, falling into his green eyes for a long moment.
"We've gotten into Life Support Engineering," Kate informed them as she moved to join them drawing Rose's attention away from the Doctor. "But they were all already dead by their suicide pills by the looks of things."
"Not surprising at this point," the Doctor sighed. "Either they figured they'd done enough damage to the computer system and controls that we'd die too or they didn't want more prisoners."
"Well we have a few for questioning," Kate reminded him though she didn't look happy. "I doubt we'll learn much from them."
"Probably not," the Doctor agreed, shifting uncomfortably and swallowing. Then he clapped his hands and put a bright smile on. "But you've got your ship working. It'll need a few repairs and I'd personally recommend lessening the trigger threshold for the auxiliary systems."
"Under normal circumstances, there would be a crew present in all three engine rooms," Kate pointed out with a small grimace. "We never should have left Earth with so few people."
"Yes well… I won't argue with you there," the Doctor murmured, once again looking uncomfortable.
"Someone planned this," Kate announced, watching his face. "Lovely, as if there haven't been enough traitors in the past between Adams and Karim."
Rose and the Doctor exchanged an uncomfortable look, but Kate sighed and straightened up. Extending her hand to the Doctor she offered him a smile. "Thank you, Doctor, I appreciate you coming to our aide."
"You're welcome Kate," the Doctor replied, taking her hand with both of his and giving her a warm look. "Try to stay out of trouble. Give my love to your father."
"I will," Kate promised. "But I'm sure he'd like a visit from you."
"Soon," the Doctor assured her and for a moment Rose thought he was going to say something else, but then he released Kate's hand and gestured at the TARDIS. "A moment Darling?"
Nodding, Rose followed him into the TARDIS and let the door fall closed behind her. She paused and looked around in surprise. The bright bronze and glass console room had been replaced with a darker sleek room. Above the console column were three layers of something with circular Gallifreyan. Two additional sets of controls had been added and curved around part of the railing on opposite sides of the consoles. It was different, but not a bad different. As she walked further in after the Doctor low blue lights brightened and the roundels on the wall lit up with rings of red and blue.
"You changed the TARDIS again," Rose observed.
"Oh," the Doctor realised as he looked around. "Yeah not too long ago. That's another desktop you apparently saw long in advance." He sighed dramatically and shook his head.
"Well she's gorgeous as ever," Rose told her cheerfully, reaching out and gently brushing the edge of the console. Brushing back a loose strand of hair, Rose gave the Doctor a smile. "What did you want to talk about?"
The Doctor smiled back at her and cross the console room, wrapping an arm around her. Grinning, Rose turned her face up towards his own just as he lowered his face to kiss her. A delighted shiver passed through Rose and she brought her hands up to grip his shoulders. The kiss was slow and sweet, sending pleasant shudders down Rose's spine as the Doctor traced the curve of her back.
"Mission accomplished," the Doctor breathed when he released her lips and let Rose take a deep breath. "That wasn't too bad."
"So Enterprise is going to be okay?" Rose questioned in what she hoped was a light voice even as she let the Doctor's arms keep her upright. "Whatever it is needed for in the future is still on track?"
"Yes," the Doctor agreed, still holding her against him. "You were brilliant Rose, absolutely brilliant rebooting the systems."
"To be honest I'm not even sure what all I did," Rose admitted with a soft chuckle. "My hands just seemed to know."
"Well our theory is that you were an engineer on a spaceship in one of your other lives," the Doctor informed her, not looking at all surprised. "You've mentioned occasional dreams about spaceships. By my time you're very good at TARDIS maintenance."
"You trust me with the TARDIS?" Rose gasped with a brilliant grin. "Really? I get to help you take care of her?!"
"Course, you were a fast study once I started showing you everything," the Doctor paused and shook his head. "Besides she adores you. And I'm pretty sure that shared property is part of most marriages work even if we know that she isn't really property."
The words warmed Rose and greatly pleased her though she wondered just how she'd managed to win the TARDIS over so much. From her understanding, the other companions had never interacted with her on a very personal level. Tegan still gave her a doubtful look whenever Rose insisted that the TARDIS was sentient. The reminder from this Doctor that someday they'd be married sent another pleasant shiver down her spine.
"Looking forward to that then," Rose murmured softly. She closed her eyes and leaned against the Doctor. "I miss you," she confessed as she listened to his dual hearts beat in his chest. "I got used to seeing you a lot."
"I know and I'll feel a little bad for that I promise," the Doctor chuckled, massaging her back lightly with one hand. "Wasn't trying to disappear, but-"
"Your Rose came home," Rose finished gently. "It's strange to think about but I get it." She looked up at him again. "Besides its reassuring to know that things will turn out okay. I just have to stay calm and focus on getting home."
The Doctor looked like he wanted to say something, but thought better of it. Rose figured her disappearance wasn't that simple, but then again how could it have been. Even the Doctor and TARDIS hadn't been able to find her. Still, she probably knew too much about her own personal future than was safe.
"I'm not sure what it says about the future that you're not worried about me having that future information, though," Rose teased, giving him a tongue on teeth smile. "Some Time Lord you are." She shifted her hand and brushed the small medallion hanging from his double Albert chain. A soft warm laugh escaped her as she realised the medallion had a small rose engraved on it. "Really Doctor," she teased, holding the medallion gently and looking up at him.
"It completes the outfit," the Doctor mumbled with a soft blush colouring his cheeks.
"I'm sure," Rose replied with a grin even as she raised an eyebrow at him.
The Doctor laughed, his green eyes brightening with amusement before he reached over and cupped her cheek. His thumb brushed over the skin of her cheek and he gave her a warm fond smile.
"Rose Tyler," he breathed, his affection filling the name.
Grinning up at him, Rose marvelled at how easily he put the bad things out of her mind just by saying her name. His thumb brushed over her lips and the Doctor's green eyes glinted just before he leaned down to kiss her. It was just a soft brush of lips for a moment before Rose sighed and let him deepen the kiss. Arms wrapped around each other and time slipped away from them. Then he slowly softened the kiss, untangling his hands from her hair and pulled away. Sighing softly at the loss, Rose opened her eyes suddenly unsure of when she'd closed them.
"I really need to stop snogging married men," Rose murmured she gently touched the golden wedding band on the Doctor's hand as she tried to catch her breath.
"Well you tease me about the foolishness of being jealous of my other selves," the Doctor remarked lightly. "You're always so happy to point out that you don't have that problem."
"I should hope not," Rose chuckled with a tongue on teeth smile. "It would be very foolish to marry a Time Lord and not accept temporal shenanigans." She leaned forward and kissed the Doctor quickly before she added more seriously. "Besides I hope that when I'm older I'll remember how much having you, all of you, in my life meant."
He beamed at her and Rose returned the smile. "Thank you," she offered after a moment. "For helping today and protecting the ship. I'm a bit surprised you didn't just tow us away in the first place, but thanks."
"Rose," the Doctor started to say only to pause with a nervous look.
"What Doctor?" Rose asked, fighting back a frown at his sudden discomfort.
"I love you," the Doctor told her firmly though Rose could sense something else in his voice. "Keep that in mind, always remember that."
"Somethings coming," Rose realised with a cold rush of worry, finally voicing the suspicion that had been growing. "Something you can't help me with."
"There are things…. Events that have to play out without outside interference."
"Wouldn't that include me?"
"No," the Doctor answered with a soft look. "You're still human. You have a right to be part of… well, what's coming." He cupped her jaw and kissed her forehead again. "Just know that I have faith in you and I'm sorry I can't come."
"Fixed point then," Rose sighed in understanding, raising her eyes to meet his. "I understand Doctor."
"Thank you."
The Doctor looked like he might say more, shifting uneasily and wringing his hands. Rose hadn't ever seen this body so agitated as he turned and opened the TARDIS. Turning back to her, he opened his mouth to say something more, but his eyes jumped to Kate. He shook his head, gave Rose one more smile and then vanished into the TARDIS. A few moments later the familiar wheezing sound and a soft breeze filled the bridge as the ship vanished. Everything was quiet and still.
"Well," Kate said slowly, standing tall and letting out a soft sigh of relief. "Not as smooth as we all wanted, but everyone is safe. Those that were injured will be alright and are in the infirmary." There were nods around the bridge and Rose could see. "I think the Enterprise has had enough for her maiden trip, let's go home."
"She called it Enterprise!" Malcolm cheered, fist pumping the air only to realise that everyone was looking at him. He blushed but kept grinning. "That makes it official now!"
A long suffering sigh escaped Kate, but she smiled. She nodded to one of the technicians who made changes to their course. The Enterprise began to turn back towards Earth and the engines roared to life, sending a powerful shudder through the ship. Rose moved over to one of the chairs and sank into it, wondering just what had the Doctor so worried and what part Enterprise was supposed to play in future events and how soon.
…Next Time….
"What is it, Spock?" Rose asked as the entire screen of her laptop changed.
"Rose reports are pouring in from all across Europe of a strange occurrence at nine forty this morning," Spock told her though there was a strange hint to his voice. "Children, every child it seems, stopped at the same time." Rose straightened up and frowned, remembering the sight of the mother and her son early this morning. "Reports indicate seventeen traffic accidents due to children stopping in the middle of the road in Europe. The Americas were asleep, but I'm finding a few unusual reports from them. Also, indications that it happened throughout Asia, Africa and Australia."
"All at the same time?" Rose asked uneasily.
"Yes, Rose…" Spock hesitated. "Skye was one of them."